Suncoast Sound...what happened??
Joe Gulledge
turn into Magic of Orlando. After the inital break-up
because of $$$ many members marched Magic, but Suncoast
Sound did re-form and made an apperance in 92 or so as a
Div. II or III corps. Because of more serious financial
problems the corps folded for good the next year. From what
I've heard there will never be a "Suncoast Sound" again.
Never try to operate a corps in the red!
Joe
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Namdog Nod
91....so I was surprised to see Suncoast Sound on my video...I remember seeing
them in 92 here in MD and they were Division 3 size....I know they've been gone
for a while now but I was just curious to find out what happened??..I'm sure
someone knows.....Thanks!!
Don
GNP2626
Suncoast Sound Broke up in 89, and became what we know now as the Magic of
Orlando
Namdog Nod
corps....ooops!!
Don
HTWAVE FL
the members and staff started what is known as Magic after the 1989 season.
They came back out in 91as a Div.III Corps and I believe they then tried going
Div. II a few years later, but lack of finances ended up with them folding the
Corps after they started their tour in 94 or 95.
Vic
Nikk Pilato
> Suncoast Sound Broke up in 89, and became what we know now as the Magic of
> Orlando
Not really. Magic and Suncoast both toured at the same time at one point.
Many of Suncoast 's members and staff may have ended up with Magic, but I
don't think it was the same corps.
++
np
http://otto.cmr.fsu.edu/~pilato_n
"People are upset not by things, but by their ideas of things."
-Epictetus
Namdog Nod
Thanks vic!!..thought I was going nuts for a bit there....now that I think
about it I think magic was at the same show I saw......
ZooCrew101
Correct. Different organizations. Some members (and staff) came over from
Tampa. By '91, only 3 or 4 Suncoast members remained and a couple of staff
members (including R.Smith).
If you want to hear some REALLY good suncoast. Go back to '86. GREAT stuff.
Kevin Ford wrote the drill for Suncoast back in '89 and for Magic in '90.
Check out the similarities...(ie. down,lift,lift...)
>
>Not really. Magic and Suncoast both toured at the same time at one point.
>Many of Suncoast 's members and staff may have ended up with Magic, but I
>don't think it was the same corps.
>
>++
>np
Carlos Bonilla
Magic '91,'92',94
Remove "Sop" if you wish to E-mail...
Kunky
halfway through the 95 season. The members told me the story was that they
just ran out of money and were going home. Some went home, a couple filled
out Crown, Magic, and I think one went to Crossmen, but the bulk of them
wound up with Spirit. I remember the night we rolled into a rest stop
somewhere in North Carolina, I think, on the way home from first tour and
met what was to become the other half of the corps. Obviously this didn't
help Spirit competitively, since we had to completely re-write the visual
program (and the first one was MUCH better!), and we ended up in 20th, I
think, but I don't regret it. You wouldn't give up half your family for a
better score. If you see the Spirit 95 vid, you'll notice we had the largest
cymbal line since Cavies 91 when the guard picked up plates. (you can
imagine what integrating the drumlines was like!)
Kunky
SOA 95/96
...forever on my mind.
Namdog Nod wrote in message
<19990804225733...@ng-fv1.aol.com>...
Eric Senzig
Namdog Nod <namd...@aol.com> wrote in article
<19990804232142...@ng-fn1.aol.com>...
Suncoast fielded until 95 I think (correct me if I'm wrong) ... bad
situation that year ... they did their first two shows and basically
stranded their kids in North Carolina when they did. A bunch of them
joined Crown and Spirit and a couple of other corps.
One of my favorite drum corps memories ... we (92 Sky Ryders) were without
our food truck in Florida on first tour due to a breakdown ... Suncoast
finds out about it and delivers us mounds of wonderful, yummy buffalo wings
after the first show. Very classy.
Eric Senzig
Sky Ryders 1992
Bayou City Blues 1999
Steve Sorrell
>Never try to operate a corps in the red!
>
>Joe
>
I know that is most definately not a good business practice, but if our
management had adopted that philosophy, I would have never had a corps to
march in. Spirit operated in the red for a number of years, and we survived.
It might not have been the best business decision, but I am glad that they
continued to provide a corps for me and my fellow members to call home.
Steve
JK Mahler
the red). By 1989, the creditors came knocking, and the corps went inactive.
Over the next two years, Magic magically appeared and quickly climbed.
Meanwhile, a couple of local band directors (Suncoast alums) kept a tiny
non-touring Suncoast corps alive, allowing the few remaining boosters to
whittle away at a $500,000 debt left behind by the touring corps. In 1992,
with the debt cut-in-half, a Div. III Suncoast came out on a shortened tour and
tried to make a go of it for a few more years, but it wasn't meant to be.
Suncoast Sound will remain a fond memory for thousands of alumni and millions
of fans.
Gustav
Charter Member
Frank Schoenbach
went under. They came back in 92 as a division III corps but folded
DURING their tour, I believe they were in the mid Atlantic area or
maybe further north, in 95 due to very inept management who allowed
them to go on tour with no money.
EmLinMan2
Church in New Brunswick, NJ. Corps director Shawn Rowland sent this corps out
on the road with no support staff and essentially, no money. The kids elected
that day to disperse among a few corps. 4 went to Magic of Orlando, 8 went to
Carolina Crown, 1 went to Delta Brigade, and 14 went to Spirit of Atlanta, as
did I. I was Suncoast Sound's Assistant Director in 1995 and later that season
was the Asst. tour director for Spirit of Atlanta. Suncoast Sound officially
filed bankruptcy in November 1995 and closed their books forever. To my
knowledge, the alumni association is still very active. Also, for the record,
Suncoast competed in 5 contests in 1995, and 2 parades before folding.
Sincerely,
Bryan H. Jenner
Assistant Director (1995)
Suncoast Sound Drum and Bugle Corps
Tampa Bay, FL
Martin Guerre
longschotz
AFTER the '89 season. Not completely due to the loss of Circle K.
Management at the time, did everything they could to put out a top notch
corps. Bought the best of everything, unfortunately, cooler heads did not
prevail when it came to fiscal management. Yes, the $ did run out, but the
loss of a one time HUGELY successful bingo operation also led to the demise
of SS.
Thanks to the undaunted efforts of Mr. Bob Abben, a drum corps legend, SS
was reborn in '91. Countless hours were spent rebuilding that year. With
the help of several additional dedicated volunteers, SS was back on the
field in '92 in Dvision III. In fact, Suncoast made finals Division III
finals that year.
In '93 I had the PRIVELEDGE of taking on the responsibiltiy of directing
the corps the entire year. Each member was keenly aware of the history of
SS and commited to restoring the corps to its former place in DCI. Thanks
to the kids, staff, parents and board, Suncoast was once again proud to be
Division II finalists that summer. In addition, we were finally close to
being debt free.
Unfortunately, the following year, the past came back to haunt SS. Former
members and staff from the Open Class years, jumped on the bandwagon and
got involved. Normally this is exactly what a corps needs. However, this
group had their sites set on much loftiter heights than Division III. Most
were uninformed as to what it took to put a corps on the field from a
mangement perspective and saw little use for remaining at the Div. II/III
level. Some even approached me during the off season and said making
Division III finals was "nothing to shout about." Tell that to Ray Mar
whose Mandarins are "pound for pound" as competitive as any corps. What a
shame, huh?
Subsequently, myself and many others who saw what the ultimate result would
be if SS continued in this direction elected to let the alumni take over
the corps. Unfortunately, our fears were confirmed. As Frank said, inept
managment put the corps out on the road for two years without the finances
to support the corps.
Suncoast has saddly joined the ranks of 27, VK, Bridgemen and far too many
others. Those of us involved, know the work involved in resurrecting a
corps. So a word to every other corps out there. Don't let the pressure
of winning force you into bad management decisions. Remember the ultimate
goal of our wonderful sport is to enhance the lives of the young people
involved.
"I believe that children are the future. Teach them well and let them lead
the way."
Sincerely,
Mike Long
Suncoast Sound Director '93
Frank Schoenbach <fra...@inxpress.net> wrote in article
<37a9715a...@news.inxpress.net>...
Ron Allard
>
>Subsequently, myself and many others who saw what the ultimate result would
>be if SS continued in this direction elected to let the alumni take over
>the corps. Unfortunately, our fears were confirmed. As Frank said, inept
>managment put the corps out on the road for two years without the finances
>to support the corps.
Mike,
I wonder about your reasoning behind electing "to let the alumni take over the
corps", if you foresaw the direction they would lead it?
It would seem to me to have been better to get rid of them, or at least take
away any decison-making power under those circumstances.
Just curious, as you seemed to have been doing things exactly right up to that
point...
--
Ron in Vegas© 1999
mailto:ron.a...@att.net
Senior Drum Corps Tribute© site:
http://home.att.net/~Diceman
Senior Corps Pic© Site:
http://home.att.net/~diceman16
Corpsreps.com - The Drum Corps Repertoire Database
http://www.corpsreps.com
Slote4
of what they think happened, and some are totally wrong!
The "Real" Suncoast Sound stopped after 1989. Yes the org. still existed after
that, but it was not the same! After returning home from 1989 - making finals
that year by a determined staff, kids, and a support staff the refused to give
up the entire staff was fired including Robert Smith, Frank Williams, Carl
Lowe,Kevin Ford,etc........
The corps management take over or "return" asked all the fired staff to send in
a resume to be interviewed. Well, this was a major insult to the people that
just got the corps in finals when it really should not of, and the staff
stopped getting paid mid tour. The determination of the kids and staff still
to this day has been unmatched as far as a corps that came from nothing in the
beginning of tour to the end. Any way, Suncoast was in debt, it was always in
debt. The Circle K sponsorship ended after one year. The money in 1986 was
spent on things that the corps needed to operate and/or needed to replace.
There was a plan since Circle K said they would sponsor the corps for several
years to purchase major items - horns, food truck, pit equip, new pants, misc.
and the next year pay off the debt. It was a solid plan by a great corps
director. Unfortunately, through changing financial status of the Circle K
corp., the loss of a fla. lottery monopoly Circ. K lost out on, the firing of
the Circ. K VP that got the sponsorship for the Corps (whom marched Drum
Corps), and not showing up to the Coca Cola aniv. parade in Atlanta the
sponsorship was lost and the debt was still there.
People that responded to this news posting that were involved with the org.
after 1989--NO offense, but your stories are bitter and wrong. You act like
the staff spent all the money, and the corps was reckless......There was a
strong attempt in 1994 to bring back the corps, and it was the nearest thing
that the corps resembled....because of staff members involved were former SS
members of the 1980's. The corps in 1989 did not go out due to money....It
went out because of a take over of people that thought they could re live the
glory days?!?!? Sorry if I am offending people...but it is the truth.......You
dont fire people like Robert Smith, Frank Williams, Carl Lowe, Kevin Ford, and
other great designers and staff and ask for their resume's. The staff was
ready for the 1990 season to begin. Instead we all came back and got the pink
slip.....Makings were inthe works for a corps in Orlando.......Seeing we were
no longer welcome to teach at the org. we got into finals that year by strong
teaching and kids determination and a some creativity a majority of the staff
was hired at Magic. Would magic still of existed if these events didnt
happen??? Probably yes, but the unwelcome departure of the staff and kids that
wanted to be taught by these caring people -Magic came out in full force.
It was a little confusing at first........traditions were new and old ones from
suncoast...basically the philosophies were the same, but the group was
different.
Staff members such as Robert Smith, Frank Williams, Jerry Kelsey, Greg Martin,
Larry Clark, Carl Lowe, Russell Stanton, Mike Rayford, Al Murray, Ken Brooks,
Jed Davis, JAck Starling, Paul Gansemer, Kevin Ford, John Fulton, Diaz Clarke,
John Campese, Adam Mason, Bob Barfield, Howard Weinstein, Mike Robinson, Alan
Clark, and many many many more made up the unique and creative side of Suncoast
Sound. These people and many support staff, administrators, and thousands of
the great members are the ones that made up the corps that was always ahead of
the times.
Funny, things that suncoast was famous for or first for were sometimes frowned
at in the 80's and now everyone thinks they started it in the 90's - Original
music, shows based on children, shows that made you think..... or displayed a
historical portrait of contraversial times (ie-1984 and 88 suncoast).
Well sorry to ramble on,but I felt i wanted to tell my part of the
record......did not mean to offend any one, and I probably did...very easy to
do on the RAMD, but oh well.......Suncoast Sound still lives on in memories and
trends, styles, staff teaching other corps, members teaching other corps
now....There is a little bit of Suncoast in half the top 12 and 17. It was
really a great group of people that was involved in the corps during the 1980's
. Stranger, is that everyone involved with the org. for the most part as staff
and members has had a ton of success in their lives and went on to do greater
things....Doctors, , attnys, college director of bands of large and small
colleges , music ed. profsrs, corp. executives. , teachers, successful h.s. and
middle sch. band directors., extremely successful arrangers, composers,
clinicians, brokers of stock and real estate, marriages to other members and
staff, professional musicians- both at disney and the real world , nurses,
architects, politicians, DCI, BOA, WGI judges & administrators, military band
conductors of high level groups, high tech comp. excs, school administrators,
photographers, designers, etc.......A truly unique group of people that came
together at a truly remarkable drum corps....... My best to all in D.C. land,
and to all the former coasters no matter what the year involved.
DSWIV
Ryan-Poo
> One of my favorite drum corps memories ... we (92 Sky Ryders) were
> without
> our food truck in Florida on first tour due to a breakdown ...
> Suncoast
> finds out about it and delivers us mounds of wonderful, yummy buffalo
> wings
> after the first show. Very classy.
Maybe that is what killed them.
--
Ryan M. Powell
http://www.concentric.net/~Duhbone/
mailto:duh...@concentric.net
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